Tripurainfo.com: 2011

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Agartala, Sep 14, 2011 : An innovative project to make the mothers aware of health and hygiene via SMS from health department was launched in Kumarghat on Tuesday.

Under the new project under the National Rural Health Mission mothers will now receive health reminders on their mobile phones for regular checkups. If the concerned women do not have a mobile phone, an SMS would be sent to their family members or to the officials of the nearest health centre.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Tapan Chakraborty formally launched the Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS)- a project first to be implemented in Tripura in entire North East region .

Under this computerized programme, every new mother will receive cell phone messages and alerts relating to her and the babies’ treatment and immunization as well as health checkup dates, said Dilip Kumar Das, Chief Medical Officer of North Tripura district. The SMS would be sent in the local language and in English, two weeks and seven days before the stipulated dates of the immunizations and checkups, said Dr Das.

Similarly, pregnant women will receive alerts on the various health measures they need to take.

In order to reduce maternal and infant mortality rate, the department would provide its all efforts to track every pregnant woman to ensure delivery of baby, new and post-natal care. Besides, newborn babies would also be traced for complete immunization coverage, Das said.

Dr Das added that Data about expecting mothers and new mothers would be collected in advance and would be stored in the records of the concerned health centers of the block.

Second CNG stn opens in Tripura

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Agartala, Sep 14, 2011 : Second Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) station has been inaugurated at Agartala on Tuesday.

Industries Minister Jitendra Chaudhury inaugurated the CNG station near at Radhanagar Bus stop. The CNG project is a joint venture of Tripura Natural Gas Company Limited (TNGCL) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC).

Chaudhury in his speech stressed on utilization of natural resources of Northeast region for uplift of human resources and for more employment.

The Radhanagar CNG station has a capacity to cater to 4000 auto rickshaws along with other heavy and medium vehicles, said S C Deogan, Managing Director of TNGCL.

He said, TNGCL would set up more CNG filling stations in some other parts of the state in coming days for easy access of gases for CNG run vehicles.

Tuesday, 13 September 2011

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Rural population declines but increases literacy

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Agartala, Sep 13, 2011 : Tripura’s current population stands at 36, 71,032, having registered a growth of 9.12 percent in urban population in 2011 compared with the preceding 2001 when the urban population stood at 17.06 percent.

Releasing the census data of rural and urban population in the directorate of census department here, director Dilip Kumar Acharjee said, “the rural population went down to 73.82 percent in 2011, which was earlier 82.94 percent”.

“The growth of urban population was highest in south district with 127.17 percent followed by remote Dhalai district with 114.53 percent in 2011”, he added.

“In child population, the rural covers 13.08 percent while the urban shows 9.32 percent”, Acharjee said.

Apart from this, the sex ratio of the state have increased from 948 (no. of females per 1000 males) in 2001 to 961 in the just concluded census while the national figure stands at 945.

On child sex ratio, the director said, “rural went down to 955 in 2011 which was 968 in 2001. Similarly, the urban showed a decadal reduction with 945 in 2011 that was touched 948 in 2001”.

Successful implementation of the literacy programmes like ‘Sarva Shiksha’ has helped the state achieve an overall literacy rate of 87.75 percent where rural population stands at 85.58 percent and urban marks 93.61 percent.

“The percentages of literacy in both rural and urban population in the state have risen compared with the last decade. The highest literacy rate in rural areas is reported in north district while the highest rate in urban area is reported in dhalai district”, he added.

He described that the literacy rate as a major success because in the 2001 census overall literacy of only 73.19% had been recorded.

On the pertinent question of caste census, he said, “process is going on as there would be four categories including scheduled tribe, scheduled caste, others and no caste”.

The caste census would be conducted simultaneously with the socio-economic survey to determine the number of people living below poverty line.

Among others deputy director Prabhakar Barat and assistant director Aparesh Chowdhury also remained present.

Manisankar join Junior India camp

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Agartala, Sep 13, 2011 : Rising cricketer of Tripura Manisankar Murasing joined Junior Indian trial camp in Bangaluru for upcoming tournament.

The under-19 Tripura boy was selected as 20 member’s squad for India camp for upcoming four-nation tournament in Hyderabad this month. The final 15 will be selected by junior selection committee from them after some preparatory match.

Including Manisankar, five pace bowlers are in the team. Three of them will be picked up for final 15 members squad. The four nation matches are prelude to Junior World Cup cricket tournament.

Financial crisis: CM seeks Prime Minister’s help

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Agartala, Sep 13, 2011 : Chief Minister Manik Sarkar requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention to bail out the state from its financial crisis.

The Chief Minister in a letter to the PM sought special financial package of Rs. 13,600 crore from the union government, said Badal Chowdhury, finance minister on Monday.

“The Chief Minister in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh briefed him on the deprivation by 13th finance commission and sought his intervention to save the state’s economic condition” Chowdhury said.

“Sarkar is also likely to meet the Prime Minister soon”, he added.

The Prime Minister’s Office had not communicated on the matter yet.

The Chief Minister’s request came in the wake of recent the Union government’s special financial package to the Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal government.

Assam Rifles DG arrives here

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Agartala, Sep 13, 2011 : In a three-day visit, new Director General of Assam Rifles Lt Gen Rameshwar Roy arrived in the state on Monday.

Roy, who took the charge on December 6 last year, in his maiden visit participated in discussions with AR sector 21 officers to assess the security status here and also reviewed the counter insurgency operations carried out by the force.

During his staying, the AR DG will pay a visit to Governor Dr DY Patil and Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.

Monday, 12 September 2011

CM asks Gramin bank to focus on rural economy

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Agartala, Sep 12, 2011 : In order to boost the rural economy and to improve the socio-economic status of the rural Tripura, the rural banks would have to play a key role, said Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.

Speaking at the state conference of Tripura Gramin Bank Officer’s Association on Sunday, terming the Tripura Gramin Bank (TGB) as the ‘life line of Tripura’, Sarkar said, ‘we would not achieve the developed country status unless the economic uplift of rural India is materialized’.

Expressing his concern over the poor CD ratio of nationalized banks, functioning in Tripura, Sarkar appealed to the officers of TG B to improve the CD ratio (Credit deposit) in the state and initiatives for encouraging of self-entrepreneurships.

He also urged the TGB authorities to sanction more financial assistance to the Self Help Groups (SHGs) and farmers.

Trans-border movement increases hepatitis risk in Tripura, WB

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Agartala, Sep 12, 2011 : Proximity with Bangladesh and also trans-border movement from both sides increased the risk of Hepatitis infection manifold in Tripura and West Bengal.

Dr Pradip Bhowmik , associate professor of Medicine in Agartala Government Medical College. Dr Bhowmik who also heads the HB foundation conducted an intensive study on the subject .'Similarities in language and cultural tradition always result in close interaction between people of Bangladesh and India and the transborder movement is also very high ; this is the reason why incidence of HBV is very high in bordering Indian states' said Dr Bhowmik in his keynote address in a seminar on the threat posed by the deadly HB virus and the ways of tackling with the menace.

The prevalence of HBV in Bangladesh ranges between 2-8% but there is no authentic study of the incidence of HBV in West Bengal and Tripura . However, in the course of his study Dr Bhowmik has found the incidence of HBV in Tripura to be 2-8%. However, a study conducted by Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has established that incidence of HBV among Reang tribesmen in Dhalai district is an alarming 13%. According to estimates made by HB foundation of Tripura on the basis of field study incidence of HBV among health care provider fraternity is an alarming 11% though in West Bengal it is only 2% . 'Comprehensive understanding about transborder transmission of HBV need specific epidemiological consideration' said Sr Bhownmik in his paper.

The more alarming aspect of Dr Bhowmik's study is that most of the people living close to border areas of India and Bangladesh are unaware of the HBV infection status though many of them are 'chronic HBV carriers'. 'Almost all the carriers have developed progressive liver diseases with advanced hepatic necrosis and fibrosis and , as they are unaware of their HBV infectivity , they may transmit HBV to healthy individuals' said Dr Bhowmik in his paper. He has called for utmost care in the matter of blood tranfusion to and from transborder travellers so that their overall health condition is put under thorough scrutiny before such transfusion to and from. Focussing on the risk factor of higher level of incidence of HBV Dr Bhowmik has pointed that many people from Bangladesh travel to West Bengal and other parts of India for treatment and they may act as transmitters of the HBV from ignorance of their own status as carriers of the deadly virus.

In order to contain the involuntary transmission of the HBV Dr Bhowmik has suggested checking of HBV DNA of transborder travellers. 'Checking the HBV infection should not be limited to assessment of Hepatitis-B surface antigen only but the HBV DNA should also be checked' said Dr Bhowmik. He has also called for stict surveillance over health condition of drug-abusers on both sides of the border because the menace of drug addiction has been growing on both sides of the border.

Interestingly, Dr Bhaumik said, medical researchers found in a Hepatitis study Tripura tribals’s anthropological connections with China. The anthropological ancestry of the Tripura tribals – a group of Bodo origin- was all along been a subject of discussion as many claim they actually belonged to Tibeto Burmese origin. But many tribal intellectuals always claimed that the Tripuri communities trace their ancestry to the Chinese. The new research result is now likely to give a new twist to the issue.

Dr Pradip Bhaumik, said, a particular type of Hepatitis strain was found in Tripura and which is predominant in China. Prevalence of this particular strain apparently supported the claim of human migration from China to Tripura.

“Recent Hepatitis B prevalence studies conducted in Tripura state found presence of a particular Hepatitis strain in Tripura which is also predominant in Far East China. The finding confirms the missing link between the NE regional Indo-Mongolians with China, the origin ancestors”, he said.

Elaborating the study, Dr Bhaumik, Associate Professor of Medicine Dept of Agartala Government Medical College, said, Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) has its varied sub genotypes and net totally it’s ten genotypes of HBV identified as ‘A’ to ‘J’. All genotypes except for E, G and H are further subdivided into different sub genotypes and have been labeled by using the nomenclature 1, 2, 3, etc. Among them C is subdivided into 9 and 12 sub genotypes respectively namely B1-B9 and C1-C12 while 8 sub genotypes of D have so far been described (D1-D8).

The analysis revealed the presence of three distinct HBV genotypes D, C and A among the HBV infected patients of Tripura, the genotype D being most prevalent (86.5 percent) followed by genotypes C (8.1per cent) and A (5.4 per cent) respectively.

The genotype D isolates were found to be most divergent and the presence of four sub genotypes namely D1, D2, D3 and D4 could be detected. Among the sub genotypes, D4 (50 per cent) was most abundant. However, in case of HBV belonging to genotypes C and A, only a single sub genotype of the respective genotypes namely C2 and A1 were identified. Thus the preliminary data indicate a distinct epidemiology of HBV genotype in Tripura.

The presence of D4 sub genotype in such a significant proportion was not reported from any other part of the country including Eastern India.

“Interestingly, in contrast to C1 sub genotype found in Eastern India and which is also prevalent in South East Asia (Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar), in Tripura HBV/C strains were found to be exclusively of C2 sub genotype. This particular sub genotype is predominantly found in Far East (China, Japan and Korea) and appears to support the claims of human migration from China to North-Eastern India”, Dr Bhaumik said

Tripura eve kifts Bronze in natnl Judo

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Agartala, Sep 12, 2011 : In a rare feat once again a Tripura eve shown in national arena of judo.

Purnam Nama of Tripura bagged bronze medal from National Sub-junior Judo championship this year.

The Tripura Sports School girl clinched the lone medal for state in 44 kg category from this tournament which was held in Kerala recently.

CM opposes communal violence bill

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Agartala, Sep 11, 2011 : Chief Minister Manik Sarkar strongly opposed the proposed ‘Communal violence bill-2011’, terming it an ‘infringement’ on the rights of the states.

Chief Minister in his address at the 15th National Integration Council (NIC) meeting at New Delhi on Saturday said ‘The proposed bill would be an infringement on the rights of the states and is bound to seriously impair the federal spirit enshrined in the constitution of India.

‘The existing legal framework is adequate to deal with all kinds of law and order situations including the communal disturbances,’ said Sarkar.

The bill, drafted by the National Advisory Council, seeks to protect ‘groups’ from communal violence and harm, describing ‘religious and linguistic minority, in any state in the Union of India, or Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes’ as victims.

Sarkar said that the fundamentalist organizations should be firmly dealt with and should not be allowed to create any communal disturbances in the country.

‘An appropriate development strategy can play a crucial role in promoting national integration,’ he said adding that all the national and regional political parties should launch an all out ideological and political campaign to promote national unity and integration.

Meanwhile, BJP and some other chief ministers also terming the proposed Communal Violence Bill as “dangerous”.

The BJP opposed the legislation, saying it presumes that the majority community is always responsible for such riots.

Govt to hold fresh Joint Entrance for SC, ST

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Agartala, Sep 11, 2011 : In an unprecedented move, Tripura government decided to hold fresh Joint entrance examination to meet the cut-off marks criteria for vacant 29 medical seats meant for ST, SC students in Agartala Government Medical College.

“The examination will be held soon”, said Anil Sarkar, higher education minister accompanied by health minister Tapan Chakraborty on Saturday.

“However, the decision for conducting joint entrance once for second time would need approval. We have placed the resolution before MCI seeking directives”, Sarkar added.

"The MCI is yet to communicate its decision ", he said.

The seats had fallen vacant due to non availability of eligible ST, SC candidates in TBJEE merit list. Recently, Medical Council of India turned down state government’s request for relaxation of the cut-off marks citing the verdict of Supreme Court of India.

Sarkar said, “Tripura Board of Joint Entrance Examination will conduct the fresh examination and also decide the schedules and venue for the examinations”.

On September 6 last, an all-party meet had unanimously taken the decision and requested the state government to consider the matter.

Saturday, 10 September 2011

Neermahal water festival inaugurated

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Agartala, Sep 10, 2011 : The ‘Neermahal Water festival’ at Rajghat in Melaghar was inaugurated on Friday by ICAT Minister Anil Sarkar amidst great enthusiasm.

The ICAT department organizes three day long tourism festival at Neermahal, the water palace of Tripura, in order to promote tourism. Swimming competition, boat race with cultural and folk programmes would be performing in the festivities.

In his inaugural speech Anil Sarkar said that the state government had taken several initiatives to improve tourism infrastructures of the state.

As part of the initiatives, the construction work for 70 bedded new tourist centers had already started, said Sarkar.

MLA Sukumar Barman addressing the gathering said, ‘Neermahal has a unique identity in the world for its enchanting beauty and people of the locality should actively take necessary steps to protect and preserve the beauties of the water palace’.

On Saturday, thousands of spectator gathered in front of Neermahal to enjoy the mega boat race and swimming competition.

Three villagers abducted from Baranarayan

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Agartala, Sep 10, 2011 : In a bizarre incident, three villagers were abducted by the unknown Bangladeshi miscreants from extreme Indo-Bangla border area- Baranarayan under Jatrapur police station on September 8 late night.

They were- Maman Miah, Kutti Miah and Khurshed Alam, residents of Gakulnagar, Udaipur.

Jatrapur Police said, “An FIR was lodged in the Jatrapur police station reporting the abduction on Friday morning”.

“We have visited the spot and started investigation”, said an official on Saturday, adding, “we are also looking on why the trio went to such extreme border area at late night”.

So far, their trace is yet to be established.

“We have informed the BSF about the incident and the message was sent to Bangladesh Border Guards also to rescue the villagers”, police said.

Meantime, TSR was also pressed into duty in the area following the tension among the villagers.

Delhi- Dhaka talks, how the dreams die By Manas Pal

Delhi- Dhaka talks, how the dreams die

By
Manas Pal

The Delhi Dhaka meet last night (September 6 2011) virtually came a cropper. It botched up two main issues -Teesta and Transit. Neither Bangladesh got Teesta water nor did we get transit facilities. Eight MoUs were signed on the subjects which were important of course, but certainly not as important as Teesta and Transit matters.

As it stands today we may say for West Bengal New Delhi sacrificed entire North East India's interest. But for this we have to look into and review the entire gamut of the issues and factors that relate to them. Most importantly, it was not only about North East India's opening to huge South Asian market and access to Indian heartland through seas. It is also about security and emerging geostrategic realties to which we cannot simply turn a blind eye. The botched Delhi Dhaka talks also have direct bearing on our much cherished Look East policy- which is virtually looking nowhere barring perhaps Indian initiative at Sittew port in Myanmar and in all intents and purpose a dead 'Ganga Mekong Cooperation' and at larger scale BIMSTEC dreams. On top of all, the Indian establishment's bungled up diplomatic efforts only help China

further strengthen its presence in our neighborhood.

It is, indeed, ironic that before Prime Minister, so many big wigs like Foreign Minister SM Krishna had gone there to discuss and formulate the policies to make his maiden Dhaka visit a success. The Delhi mandarins in reality failed to accomplish their tasks.

At the face it might look as if Mamata Banerjee threw the spanner with her political interest limited only to West Bengal. But if we read Dr Manmohan Singh's comment in July last that certain section of Bangladeshi population was under ISI influence and "25 percent"; people there anti-Indian, with the intransigence at which Delhi denied Dhaka of Teesta water, which they needed badly , only strengthens a suspicion that some people at the helm of affairs in the Union Government/ MEA had always been working with a fixed mindset- perhaps equating Bangladesh with Pakistan. They over the years had turned all our neighbors- if not direct enemy but certainly not a friendly nation. The last one left was Bangladesh under Awami League government. Mamata only played the second fiddle to those people, willy nilly. Or, how come it could be so that the Chief Minister of the state through which the Teesta flows down to Bangladesh was not shown the final draft and not taken into confidence. It smacks of a conspiracy.

Now, look at Bangladesh behavior. I found they were right in their decision. You just cannot expect a sovereign country would agree to whatever you ask, say here Transit and Chittagong port, without giving them what they deserved. It was a treatment equal. People in Delhi must now understand that you just cannot ignore or bully around a small country.

After her victory Sheikh Hasina first came to India and then went to China. It could be translated as her indication of preference. While in India she gave Ashuganj river port access to India for transporting Over Dimensional Cargo for Palatana power project being set up by ONGC ( OTPC) in South Tripura. This was Project specific clearance and indeed massive turbines came to the project via Ashuganj port from Kolkata.

Keep it in mind Bangladesh was even keen not to impose administrative fees for transit goods through it s territory which sparked off wild protests. According to International norms no country through which transit is given can impose customs or excise duties on goods on transit, but it can impose administrative fees. Bangladesh government, however, hit the hornet's nest when they indicated that they would not ask for transit fees as it would be 'uncivilized' for a neighboring country. This decision led to wild reaction among a section of Bangladeshi intelligentsia who cited example of Egypt that had imposed heavy fees on goods passing through Suez and earned millions of dollars. It was under this pressure Sheikh Hasina government had decided to form a core committee to look into the matter, by this time during Manmohan Singh's visit in Dhaka 'letter' on the issue would exchanged, a diplomatic step before formulation of legal instruments and SOP.

Sheikh Hasina had also assured New Delhi during her visit last year that anti Indian militants would not be allowed to use Bangladesh soil and, indeed, she handed over almost all senior NE militant leaders to India. She had done what she had promised despite being under severe political pressure from parties like BNP or Jamat. It was natural for her that she would be expecting some good will gesture from India. And they needed Teesta water badly.

How badly they needed Teesta water?

Teesta originated from Sikkim's So Lomo lake and then enters to Nilphamari district of Bangladesh through Jalpaiguri. It flowed down about 124 kms in Bangladesh and then joined Brahmaputra at Kurigram there. But before that it courses down about 45 kms criss crossing Rangpur, Lalmonirhat and Gaibandha -the areas that constitute 15-18 percent of rice and other crop yielding areas of Bangladesh- of which 63 percent needs irrigation from Teesta water. The area is populated by 8.5 percent of Bangladesh's total population.

India had constructed a dam at Gazalbad - about 25 kms from Siliguri controlling the water flow down to Bangladesh. And the end result is while in normal cases about 20,000 cubic feet per second - commonly termed as Cusec -water would have gone to Bangladesh but Dhaka claims they get only about 400 Cusec water during the dry season. Result is the area is facing serious irrigation crisis directly affecting Bangladesh's crop yield and population. It was already declared dry region-

Bangladesh to meet the situation had constructed a barrage at Dalia on down stream Teesta at Lalmonirhat through a canal network. But during dry spell Gazalabad dam controlling water flow turns this barrage meaningless. But when it rains and the Teesta swells Gazalabad sends down excess water that again causes floods in Bangladesh crop land and erodes banks.

When in March last year talks on Teesta water sharing did take place India proposed water sharing at 75 : 25 ratio. Bangladesh had demanded 50:50. Later , according to reports Dhaka settled for 52:42. But India was not ready. Mamata banerjee is reported to have agreed to share 30 percent.

But as it stands today, all initiatives fell through.

So what is next.

Hasina is seriously embarrassed and she will have to face her people. Who would simply ask : Well, you had given them Ashuganj port for their project and you had met their security concern. What they gave you ? And she will be going to polls in late 2013 or early 2014. Already in some local body elections her party suffered defeat.

On the other hand those anti-Indian parties would get a booster. Their campaign will be again simple : See, we always said India is a big bully who does not have any friend anywhere near her vicinity. This is the reason. And, it might to so happen that the Indian militants would seek to find a foothold again and Islamic terrorists from there with direct links with LeT would be further encouraged. They would simply identify this fiasco as the attitude of the Hindu Hindustan towards a predominantly muslim country.

Right at this moment West Bengal's interest was served. And Mamata Banerjee might be rejoicing. But interests of the entire North East -which means 262,230 sq. km. land and about 5 crores people and seven states were ignored.

For North East transit facilities through Bangladesh and access to Chittagong port - which is located only 75 kms from Sabrum southern most part of Tripura-for transshipment were of utmost important not only for trades and infrastructure developments but also for geo-strategic reasons. And apparently these geo-strategic components were not attached importance -with most media -talking sweet sounding bilateral and people to people relations and repeating those oft-spoken Indian roles for Bangladesh Liberation. Those sweetie talks apparently did neither ring so sweet nor strike the right chord.

Yes, Delhi agreed to provide duty-free access to the Indian market to 46 textile tariff lines, as per the request of Bangladesh, with immediate effect. Bangladesh had demanded 64 items for this. This is aimed at bridging the gap between trade imbalance between India and Bangladesh . And yes both sides settled the disputed land issues and that India agreed to finance 13 projects that involve $746 million, and two loan agreements involving about $41 million that were signed. The Indian Line of credit of $1 billion would entail 1.75 per cent interest per annum and it will be repaid in 20 years with five years' grace period. But all these are virtually India specific infrastructures and the financial assistance is not without interest- it is a loan.

Without detailing further what comes next for India. Answer is simple. The Dragon.

Now from last night ( September 6, 2011) who are the most happy persons ? Of course, Mamata Banerjee . But there more somewhere in Beijing. Not those in Delhi or Dhaka, or for that matter in Agartala or Guwahati.

It would now be a cat walk for China to come straight to our next door with many more offers and support and cooperation in critical matters including strategic infrastructures for Bangladesh. Their area of mutual cooperation and bilateral trades will be broadened further. It is already being said in Bangladesh that whatever India gave for infrastructure development those were all meant to meet Indian interest-including the line of credit. On the other hand Chinese support was more free and certainly far sighted for Beijing's interest.
.
Some examples as to how China had already made its inroad and given the tonight's debacle, it does not need a rocket scientist to feel that Bangladesh is now be more inclined to Beijing.

China has already emerged as bigger trading partner in Bangladesh and there are indications that Beijing would develop Chittagong port and Sonadia Deep sea port, 7 kms off Cox's Bazar there.

'We sought support from China to build Sonadia deep-sea port and Chittagong-Kunming Highway via Myanmar. Beijing has assured us of support in this regard,' Dr. Hasan Mahmud, the State Minister for Environment and Forests had said in 2010.

Apart from port development in Chittagong adjoining Tripura, a 900 kms tri-national highway from Kunming in Chittagong via Myanmar is already on the card. Last year, Myanmar also gave go ahead for the Kunming to Chittagong highway via its territory. Chittagong port handles about 92 per cent of Bangladesh's import-export trade and China coming to Chittagong with highway would only mean easy transportation of Chinese goods, and in cases military hardware, to Bangladesh as well as a quantum jump to Sino Bangla trade.

Two months later in March 2010, Sheikh Hasina went to China and both the countries discussed Beijing developing the Chittagong port.

For China, Chittagong port and Sonadia deep sea port would only add to Beijing's blue water strategy -'String of Pearls'- that already had Gwador in Pakistan, Hambantota in Sri Lanka, Kyakpiu in Myanmar, besides its reported presence in Hanggyi and Coco-Islands under its wings. On the other hand, Chinese presence in next door would have serious geo-strategic concern for India.

Besides, according to media reports Chinese energy consortium, Sinopec Shengli Oilfield Services, has already partnered with Bangladeshi state-owned firm Bapex, to explore four gas fields in the Chittagong Hill Tracts which is astride South and North Tripura districts.

China is also helping Bangladesh in some critical infrastructure development including nuclear power plant. Only on 9 June last, Dhaka signed a loan agreement worth US$211 million with the Export-Import Bank of China to upgrade the Bangladesh's telecommunications network.

One year ago China and Bangladesh also signed agreements for Beijing's financial assistance and expertise to support Dhaka to launch their first space satellite. China also pledged help Dhaka to build the 600-1000 MW Pabna nuclear power plant with a US$1.5 billion Chinese loan at concession, besides, development of Pagla water treatment plant and Shahjalal fertilizer factory. They would also construct seven important bridges for them.

Chinese trades and cooperation in Bangladesh had showed a steady upward turn since 2007. According to Bangladesh Board of Investment, till late 2010 as many as 55 Chinese businesses houses submitted 186 investment proposals in the infrastructure and trades that might touch around US$320 million.

One must also keep in mind that Bangladesh's tilt towards China virtually began during Begum Khaleda Zia's BNP tenure in Dhaka. Now, after the debacle suffered in the Dhaka, India will find Sheikh Hasina is also left with no other option to go the China way only.

It is indeed ironic that this China had opposed to Bangladesh Liberation War led by Sheikh Hasina's father Sheikh Mujibur Rehman.

While of course it would their domestic policy now, and Bangladesh government would whatever they would feel better, we can only ask our mandarins in New Delhi, forget about revival of Ganga-Mekon Cooperation ... where our own Look East policy stands now ?

Pages

Saturday, 31 December 2011

Friday, 30 December 2011

Wednesday, 28 December 2011

Wednesday, 21 December 2011

Saturday, 17 December 2011

Friday, 16 December 2011

VICTORY-71 , AND AGARTALA CONSPIRACY

By

Manas Paul

Cricket in Tripura: sickness and diagnosis

By Umaprasad Bhattacharjee

Thursday, 15 December 2011

Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Of defiance of death and resurrection

By Shekhar Dutta

COP-17: India's success in CO2 emission

By Biswendu Bhattacharjee

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Monday, 12 December 2011

Saturday, 10 December 2011

Friday, 9 December 2011

Thursday, 8 December 2011

Wednesday, 7 December 2011

Tuesday, 6 December 2011

Monday, 5 December 2011

Saturday, 3 December 2011

Friday, 2 December 2011

Thursday, 1 December 2011

Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Tuesday, 29 November 2011

Monday, 28 November 2011

Friday, 25 November 2011

Thursday, 24 November 2011

Wednesday, 23 November 2011

Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Monday, 21 November 2011

Saturday, 19 November 2011

Friday, 18 November 2011

By
Umaprasad Bhattacharjee

By
Shekhar Dutta

By
Biswendu Bhattacharjee